The Atlanta Hawks made things interesting against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday. The Hawks have struggled against the Western Conference all season.
Their 124-114 road loss is not wholly surprising, though it remains disappointing.
Still, after trailing by as many as 25 points, the Hawks got as close as within a 4-point margin. The Rockets pulled away in the end, but even that offered somewhat of a building block for the Hawks going forward in head coach Quin Snyder’s estimation.
“We were right there,” Snyder told reporters on March 25. “I thought [Jalen] Green hit a tough shot on a good defensive possession. [Alperen] Sengun hit a tough shot. We had one on a on a swing swing where Terance [Mann] didn’t want to get off [Steven] Adams’ body and [Jabari] Smith hit a shot.
“They had to make plays to beat us down the stretch. And I thought, again, we found som rhythm there, which was good for us for tonight and as we move forward as well.”
The Hawks outscored the Rockets 40-27 in the fourth quarter.
However, the Hawks endured a two-minute scoring drought after Zaccharie Risacher made it a 102-97 game with his successful and-1 attempt. Risacher also snapped the drought, to make it a 110-99 margin with 4:04 to go.
Snyder pointed to the Hawks’ ability to get stops for allowing them to get back into the game. The Rockets shot 72.7% overall and 60% from beyond the arc to close the game out.
Snyder also admitted to the challenges the Rockets’ double-big lineups presented.
“It’s hard for us when they play those two bigs together,” Snyder said of the Rockets pairing Adams and Sengun for productive stretches. “Because both of our centers were in foul trouble, we don’t really have the option to match them that way.”
That led to Snyder commending Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu, who overcame foul trouble to finish with a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double and 3 assists while cleaning up his defense.
The Hawks are now 13-18 with Okongwu as their starting center.
They replaced former starter Clint Capela with Okongwu before the trade deadline. And with the veteran sidelined with a hand injury, the youngster’s presence has become that much more important for the Hawks.
“I thought O, moving his feet, it didn’t feel like he was trying not to foul either,” Snyder said. “He still was was physical where he needed to be, and that was good to see.”
Snyder also spoke to Risacher’s fire after the rookie was upset over a foul on Green.
“He was mad,” Snyder said. “That’s something that we’ve talked to him a lot about. With his height, just not coming down and fouling a jump shooter. Because he is so long, he can make that shot hard. And a lot of those shots are tough to block without fouling because they shoot right into you. So that’s just more of the things that he’s learning. And I thought tonight, as we talked about, his shot wasn’t going. But he got to the rim he did some good things.”
Risacher finished with 18 points, 4 boards, and 1 dime, shooting 50% from the field but going 0-for-6 from long range.
He entered the contest shooting 40% on triples in seven games since his last 0-for showing.